Letter: 'Misinformed'

Dr. Allen Malnak, in his April 13 letter "What it is, isn't," offers the misinformed conclusion that teaching evolution in school is appropriate as there is "overwhelming evidence for evolution."

When it comes to science-related evolution, the era of genetics and DNA has passed by the doctor. We now use DNA and the laws of probability to convict people of crime. More important, scientists can calculate the probability that humans evolved from apes or chimps or any other animal.

Facts: The specific genetic material which decides what creature we have — human or chimp — contains 6 billion nucleotides inside the nucleus in each cell, arranged in specific sequences, and specific quantities which enable genetic material to function. Is it probable that a single gene can evolve from ape to human being by chance? Or, what is the probability of a single specific sequence of the nucleotides to be arranged by chance?

The Chimp Genome Project which sequenced the DNA of the chimpanzee concluded there was at most a 96 percent similarity of genetic material. Even if similarity were 99 percent between a monkey's gene and a human's gene, we are still talking about 6 billion nucleotides that must be haphazardly rearranged to change the monkey into human.

The laws of probability tell genetic scientists that this is an utter impossibility. The chance that a chimp evolved into a human is one in 10 raised to 3,571,428,571 power. As important, is that evolution from a lower species into a human would have to increase the genetic information contained in a cell. Genetic scientists have not been able to find or produce a single mutation that results in added information.